In traditional lifting platforms, a ratchet mechanism is displaced relative to a toothed rack, and the ratchet mechanism engages the toothed rack when a catching position is reached. Uniform pitches of teeth on the toothed rack provide a plurality of equidistant catching positions to lock or fix the ratchet mechanism relative to the toothed rack. In a scissors-type lifting platform having two scissors bars approximately centrally connected to each other via a pivot joint, one of the scissors bars is respectively rotatably connected to a rail at its upper end and is longitudinally displaceably supported on a base at its lower end. The second scissors bar is rotatably connected to the base at its lower end and longitudinally displaceably connected to a rail at its upper end. The displaceably supported ends of the scissors bars are connected to a ratchet member that is displaceable along a toothed rack.
However, in such lifting platforms, the linearly guided ends of the scissors bars move along a curved path during a lifting or lowering movement of the scissors-type lifting platform. As a result, lateral displacements of the ratchet mechanism from one catching position to the next catching position in equal amounts produce vertical lifting movements that become increasingly smaller as the lifting platform is moved from one catching position to the next catching position. Due to the plurality of available catching positions, it is difficult to cause the lifting platform to catch such that predetermined, equidistant lifting positions are achieved.